Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Introducing: "Help Me Fix My Laptop"

This is my wife's old laptop: a six year-old "TiBook." It has been my interim computer ever since my not-so-trusty but still very serviceable Averatec died. Three more weeks to go before I get my CloudBook (I hope), but in the mean time I need to keep "Old Abi" going. The fact that it was sitting unused on a shelf for two years probably helps but, even so, some of the hardware is beginning to wear out. Last week I started having power supply issues . . .

. . . and I noticed that there was a lot of sparkling going on exactly where that dark spot at the base of the plug is.

So I cut the cord with my trusty Leatherman Wave's wire cutter . . .

. . . and discovered that one wire had burned right through. It was not only charred, but totally severed.

So I replaced the aesthetically pleasing but totally non-recyclable Mac plug with an ¥88 one I got at the hardware store.

Here is that self-same laptop a year later, and in need of more complex repairs. It has taken it's place on the floor of the spare bedroom, next to the box of old laptop parts and the remote controlled toy hovercraft I bought when I was a kid.

Maybe I will start a new series on this blog called: "Help Me Fix My Busted Laptop." We'll start with my old Averatec 3200.

Symptom: suddenly cuts out during the boot process (or, when I have it in BIOS mode, after a short period of time--the more times I try starting it in a row, the less time it takes to cut out).

Original Cause: I was defragging the hard drive--overheating may have been an issue.

If this laptop can be successfully repaired it will be donated to a good cause: replacing my father's eight year-old IBM that is still running Windows 2000.

About Me

Luke, a missionary kid who grew up in Japan, and Yuko, who left Hokkaido in her teens in order to study Biblical Counseling and Christian Education in the United States, were married in 2005. They have five children: Grace, Faith, Judah, Josiah and John. After a three year period of preparation in Canada, they returned to Japan as OMF missionaries in 2013. They have filled the role of ACC Director since the spring of 2015. (ACC stands for "Aomori Christian Center.")